Manuscripts

King Johan : [manuscript]

1 of 70

Description: ff. 1-35; f. 35v blank. [John Bale] King Johan. Incipit: To declare the powres, & their force to enlarge/ the scriptur of god, doth flow In most abowndaunce. Explicit: Also to preserue hir most honourable counsell/ To the prayse of God, and glorye of the Gospell. Thus endeth the ii playes of kynge Iohan. English. Revisions and 2 added leaves (ff. 12, 14) in the first part (ff. 1-22), and all of the second part (ff. 23-35) in the author's hand. J. Payne Collier, ed., Kynge Johan: a Play in Two Parts by John Bale. Camden Society 2 (London 1838), the first edition, from this unique manuscript. J. M. Manly, ed., Specimens of the Pre-Shaksperean Drama (Boston 1897) 1:523-618 from Collier's edition. W. Bang, ed., Bales Kynge Johan nach der Handschrift in der Chatsworth Collection. Materialen zur Kunde des älteren englischen Dramas 25 (Louvain 1909) in facsimile with reference to verse numbers in Manly's edition. J. H. P. Pafford, ed., with assistance of W. W. Greg, King Johan by John Bale. Malone Society (Oxford 1931) in type-facsimile with plates of portions of ff. 1, 6, 23v, 32. B. B. Adams, ed., John Bale's King Johan (San Marino 1969). P. Happé, ed., The Complete Plays of John Bale (Cambridge, 1985-86).
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The nativite of oure lady : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-109v; ff. 110-112, modern; f. 112v blank. [John Lydgate]. [Life of Our Lady]. Incipit: A Floure of vertu full longe kept in cloos. Explicit: That the fortune made debonayre/ For to susteyne þe honour of her toun//. Rubric: The Nativite of oure lady Capitulo primo. English. Text preceded on ff. 1-2v by a chapter list and a prologue, " O thouȝtfull hert plunged in distresse/ With slombre of slouthe þis long wynterys nyȝt. . ." Ends defectively; on ff. 110-112, Book 6, vv. 327-462 replaced in an imitative anglicana hand on modern parchment: "And thourgh hire helpe and meditacion. . .To kepe and saue fro all aduersyte. Amen." IMEV 2574 . J. A. Lauritis et al., eds., A Critical Edition of John Lydgate's Life of Our Lady. Duquesne Studies Philological Series 2 (Pittsburgh 1961), group b; see p. 42; this manuscript included in the collation; the text in HM 115 divided into 36 chapters (as is the chapter list), rather than the 82 of the Caxton edition or the 87 of the Lauritis edition.

mssHM 115

De ludo scachorum : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-47v. [Jacobus de Cessolis] De ludo scaccorum. Incipit: Inter omnia mala signa in homine unum est quando homo non timet deum per culpam. Explicit: ut in ipso possumus in perpetuum regnare cum ipso et vivere ipso prestante, hunc autem librum in honorem nobilium et solatium et maxime scientium construxi. Amen. Rubric: De causa inventionis ludi et sub quo rege inventus fuit capitulum primum. Tractatus primus de causa inventionis ludi predicti, capitulum primum sub quo rege predictus ludus inventus fuit. Latin. Kaeppeli, SOPMA 2066 citing this manuscript. E. Köpke, ed. Jacobus de Cessolis. Mitteilungen aus den Handschriften der Ritter-Akademie zu Brandenburg an der Havel (Brandenburg a. H. 1879). The text is preceded by a prologue ("Incipit prohemium libri compositi de ludo scachorum a fratre de sexolis ordinis predicatorum, Multorum fratrum ordinis nostri et diversorum scolarium precibus persuasus . . .") and a chapter list.

mssHM 1037

Traicté de peyne : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-20v; f. 21r-v blank. Traicté de peyne. Incipit: Apres avoyr par longtemps travaille/ Couru trote longuement et sans cesse. Explicit: En payement ils prendront si leur plaist/ De par nous troys ce present tel qu'il est./ Faict et conclus en vos pays et marches/ Par troys amys dont les troys ne sont qu'ung/ Les penitens de vostre mayson d'arches/ Dont l'escripvain feust et sera"Tant brun.". French. f. 1r-v blank; ff. 2-3, dedication; ff. 3-20v, text; f. 21r-v blank. E. Paillet, ed., Le Traicté de peyne, poëme allégorique dédié à Monseigneur et à Madame de Lorraynne, manuscrit inédit du XVIe siècle (Paris 1867) from this manuscript (only known copy) in a limited edition, of which one copy on vellum, now Huntington Library RB 194320.

mssHM 49

Chronicle : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-135; ff. 135v-136v blank. [Robert of Gloucester]. [Chronicle]. Incipit: Engelond is swithe good I wene hit is lond beste/ In oon ende hit is yset: of þe world al in þe west. Explicit: þat of þe walische londe clanlich al out/ He wan þe seignorye nere hi no so prout. English. IMEV 727 . W. A. Wright, ed., The Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester. RS 86 (London 1887); HM 126 of the later recension; ff. 127v-135 correspond to Wright's Appendix XX, pp. 838-77.

mssHM 126

Brut chronicle, in English : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-154v. [Brut Chronicle]. Incipit: Some tyme in the noble lande & Roialme of Surrie ther was a myghti and Worshipfull king called dioclician. Explicit: And thanne the king entered the cite and the Castell and rested him þer and sette the cite in gouernaunce and rule. English. F. W. D. Brie, ed., The Brut or the Chronicles of England. EETS os 131 and 136 (London 1906-08) 1-391 to the year 1419. HM 131 is of the expanded version discussed by Brie, Geschichte und Quellen der mittelenglischen Prosachronik The Brute of England oder The Chronicles of England (Marburg 1905) 82-83, possibly of Group C; this text seems abbreviated, but complete unto itself; the chapters are numbered to 210 erroneously due to frequent skipping of numbers or of chapters. For extant manuscripts, see L. M. Matheson, "The Middle English Prose Brut: A Location List of Manuscripts and Early Printed Editions," Analytical and Enumerative Bibliography 3 (1979) 254-66, including HM 131. With a first introduction ("Here begynneth Brute in englysshe the Whiche declareth and treteth of All the kinges and of all the notable actes and dedes the whyche hathe bene done in this lande sithe the furste begynnyng of this lande") and a second introduction ("The prolog of this boke declareth howe this lande was furste called Albion after the eldest doughter of king dioclician of Surrie that Was called Albine") that precede the text.

mssHM 131

Scale of perfection : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-84v but see reading order. [Walter Hilton] Scale of Perfection. Incipit: //þawȝ þe þink þiself reccheles & negligent. Explicit: and oftentymes þurȝ here gostly presence//. English. Walter Hilton, Scale of Perfection, beginning and ending defectively and with loss of text due to missing leaves; the volume is misbound and should be read as follows, the numbers in parentheses giving the page numbers in E. Underhill, ed., The Scale of Perfection by Walter Hilton (London 1923): f. 13r-v (75-77), f. 14r-v (84-87), f. 3r-v (136-38), f. 4r-v (164-67), f. 2r-v (167-69), f. 1r-v (170-71), ff. 16-20v (169-85), ff. 21-36v (189-245), ff. 43-84v (280-377), ff. 37-38v (377-82), f. 41r-v (382-84), ff. 7-8v (384-89), f. 42r-v (389-90), ff. 39-40v (390-96), ff. 11-12v (415-20), f. 15r-v (443-45), ff. 5-6v (451-55), ff. 9-10v (455-60). The text contains Books 1 and 2 in an apparently deliberate abridgment and thus the chapters do not always coincide with those in the Underhill edition; many of the expanded "Christo-centric" passages are present (that on the Holy Name not verifiable due to missing leaves). For list of manuscripts, see H. L. Gardner, "The Text of the Scale of Perfection," Medium Aevum 5 (1936) 11-30; S. S. Hussey, "The Text of the Scale of Perfection: Book II," Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 65 (1967) 75-92; T. Takamiya, "Luttrell Wynne MS of Walter Hilton," Reports of the Keio Institute 7 (1975) 171-91. See also R. Hanna, "The Archaeology of a Manuscript: Huntington Library HM 266," Scriptorium 36 (1982) 99-102.

mssHM 266

King Johan : [manuscript]

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The nativite of oure lady : [manuscript]

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